§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on outstanding Individual Learning Accounts, with special reference to(a) the sums cleared for payment, (b) the sums still in dispute on each investigation, (c) the number of providers still unpaid and (d) the number of fraud investigations under way or concluded. [88330]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisSince closure of the Individual Learning Account programme on 23 November 2001 to 31 November 2002, £11.5 million has been paid to 3,407 registered learning providers. A total of 698 providers have been subject to review, of these claims totalling £15.7 million have been withheld from 253 registered
Centre name Address 1 Address 2 Town Postcode The Luton Health and Training Centre 179a-bDunstableRoad Luton LU11BT The Dale ICT Centre 127 Dunstable Road Luton LU1 1BW Luton Foyer 63 Inkerman Street Luton LU1 1JD Outset Ltd. Telemax House 15 New Bedford Road Luton LU1 1SA Luton Lives 28a Chapel Street Luton LU1 2SE Barnfield College—Rotherharn Avenue Site Rotherharn Avenue Luton LU1 5PP Barnfield College—Charles Street Charles Street Luton LU2 OEB CYCD ICT Centre 94–106 Leagrave Road Luton LU4 8HT KHIDMAT ICT Centre 47a Leagrave Road Luton LU4 8HT
§ Margaret MoranTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many UK online centres there are; how many hours on average they are used per week; and if he will list the location of each centre. [88309]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeMy right hon. Friend the Prime Minister officially announced the achievement of 6,000 UK online centres open across England on 19 November 2002, six weeks ahead of schedule.
Due to the diversity of centres an average of hours they are used per week is not applicable. UK online centres range from voluntary and community centres (including mobile centres) to, libraries, colleges and high street cyber-caf?some can be in a church or post office.
36Wlearning providers. Following completion of preliminary reviews, we are discussing repayment of £97 million of potentially irregular payments with 623 providers. The individual provider figures are not quoted as these are commercial in confidence.
The Department's Special Investigations Unit has been asked to investigate 153 learning provider organisations. Of the 153, the police are investigating 100 learning providers. To date, there have been 60 arrests, which have resulted in 10 people accepting cautions and charges being brought against 14 individuals. Charges have since been dropped against two individuals investigated by the National Crime Squad because of the small amounts of money involved. 11 others are awaiting court appearances. One person has been convicted. The precise extent of fraudulent activity will not be known until all investigations are complete.